“Being part of the program has changed how we use water… when you’re not aware of things, then you don’t mentally do it… a lot of it’s being given the tools, the rain tanks to water the edible garden, having those tools in the first place has helped us change our water use.”
Water LA households have reported that participating in Water LA changed the way they thought about water, in addition to changing the way it moved through their properties. Retrofitting their homes and maintaining the new landscapes made participants both more conscious of their own water use, and aware of alternatives to conventional, water-intensive lifestyles.
Many express pleasure in this deeper level of consciousness, and a desire to spread the word to others. For many, Water LA has brought an awareness and appreciation of local environmental challenges beyond those directly related to water consumption. Tending retrofitted landscapes built concern for the health of LA’s urban ecology, including its soil and fauna.
The Vazquez HOME
After seeing Water LA work in their neighborhood, the Vazquez family engaged the program to make similar changes at their own home. Santos runs a landscape business in Los Angeles, and has been interested in drought-tolerant landscaping and native plants. The workshops that the family attended helped them start an edible garden, reuse their greywater, and install a parkway retrofit with a curb cut to capture rainwater.
The Brooks HOME
The Brooks family wanted to take action, but did not know if urban acupuncture strategies could work for them with their house and pool being surrounded by concrete. After consulting with Water LA, the Brooks decided to go all out with the appropriate strategies for the space they had. This included a rain tank, an edible garden, a greywater system, and the biggest infiltration trenches and longest parkway retrofit in the neighborhood.
The Fernandez HOME
The Fernandez Family, from Guatemala, transformed their home by implementing all of the strategies offered. They decided to expand on their edible garden by using a greywater watering system, adding a rain tank, creating both a parkway garden and infiltration trench to capture and infiltrate water into the groundwater table, and adding gutters to their home.
“I love the way the neighborhood is looking with all the projects, I hope more neighborhoods do the same thing… the neighborhood looks good, I love the cutouts and the parkways.”
Participants have also reported a strengthened sense of community connection and cohesion in their neighborhood as a result of the Water LA program. The project’s structure—emphasizing community engagement through educational workshops and “neighbor labor”—brings residents together and is reported to improve the overall character of the neighborhood.
To date, Water LA has helped residents complete over 130 urban acupuncture projects that capture, conserve, and reuse water at homes throughout Los Angeles. Check out featured Water LA implementations below, and learn more about our strategies.